-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- We do n't know much about the shooting at Los Angeles International Airport just yet , but it has clearly jangled our collective nerves , dredging up the fear and shock and pain of 9/11 -- the wellspring of our modern airport security process -- reminding us that more than a decade later , flying is still a fraught experience .

For those of us who were working for United or American , that day in 2001 changed everything . When we finally got back onboard , our workplace now included air marshals , armed pilots , martial arts lessons , tasers , fortified cockpit doors , and a new focus on vigilance , not warmth and customer service . `` Welcome aboard '' was less a greeting and more an opportunity to size you up .

So , reports of today 's airport shooting raise new fears about weaknesses in this system . Is it possible that the gunman who shot and killed one TSA officer and injured two of his colleagues may have made it through LAX security with a high-powered rifle ? -LRB- As of this writing , that is not yet clear . -RRB-

And is it time to start arming Transportation Security Administration officials ?

No way .

I can understand the urge to react , to grasp at anything that might protect travelers . I too want air travel to be safe ; hell , my husband is a pilot . But arming screeners at checkpoints well away from the airfield would n't be just another of the many precautions the airlines have taken to avert large-scale terrorism . It would simply be about protecting people from something that is everywhere in America : gun violence -- yes , at airports , and also at schools , at movie theaters , and malls .

If you 're the kind of person who thinks that every teacher and hall monitor and mall cop and cinema usher should be armed , then you 'll probably feel safer if we give guns to TSA officers . And maybe flight attendants and customer service reps and baggage handlers . And probably bus drivers and ballpark ticket takers , and hospital staff .

LAX shooting delays flights nationwide

September 11 , 2001 , still hurts , but most of our public killings have been at the hands of angry or disturbed co-workers , students , neighbors , family members -- not terrorists .

Do you really want to start handing out guns to the people you work with ?

Probably not if you work for an airline where people are often underpaid , overworked , sometimes inhumanely exhausted and locked , perennially , in famously contentious relationships with management .

Even before 9/11 , it made me nervous that as airline workers , we skipped security entirely , simply hopping off the employee bus and entering a back door , bags and bodies unscreened . I feared that the next air disaster would be caused by a colleague with a bone to pick . Of course , I was wrong , and thankfully employees ' bags are now screened , but giving guns to airline and airport workers is still a disquieting idea .

I was never a fan of armed pilots , even in the nightmarish days after 9/11 . Another flight attendant might have felt reassured but , when I once walked into the cockpit of a 757 to find a pilot with a gun resting on his lap , I was most decidedly rattled . I had n't met the guy before and had no reason to distrust him , but even the thought of an accident was enough to make me question my safety -LRB- turbulence anyone ? -RRB- .

And a couple of chilling mishaps -- an inadvertent discharge in the cockpit of a US Airways plane and an incident where a JetBlue pilot lost his gun in an airport -- demonstrate the potential dangers of even a best-case-scenario arming of the nation 's nearly 50,000 TSA agents .

Chaos , terror unfold inside LAX Terminal 3

Unquestionably , terrorism is a real concern for airlines , but like it or not , as Americans , we have also have to worry just as much about angry neighbors with guns .

To fight our justified fear , some will undoubtedly push for more guns and others for fewer . One thing is for certain -- we will continually be forced to debate this . I only hope that we can find some common ground before the next reminder .

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Tiffany Hawk .

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Tiffany Hawk : 9/11 left a legacy of security measures by airlines and airports

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Friday 's shooting at LAX raises new security concerns , she says

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Hawk : Violence in schools , malls and cinemas is more prevalent than terrorism

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Arming airline workers -- often underpaid and over-stressed -- is a bad idea , she says